Transnational capitalism and the struggle over European integration

Book abstract:

Democracy brings increased choice and that increase in choice will be fed through competition which might itself threaten integration. This book takes a fresh look at how these sometimes combatant aims have learned to coexist in the EU and in the process developed a new form of capitalism.

The work is organised over five chapters. Chapter one deals with the theoretical framework of the study and chapter two goes on to describe and analyse the process of global capitalist restructuring that has taken place since the 1970s. The European Roundtable of Industrialists (ERT) is introduced in chapter three and features in the following chapters as the main case study of the book. The transformation of ERT from a neo-mercantile concept of European order to one centred around a neo-liberal vision is analysed in chapter four. The author draws on lessons from the Swedish model to explore Capital Restructuring, Globalisation and the Third Way in chapter five.

The book will interest scholars and students in the fields of political science, European Studies and socio-economics.

Bastiaan van Apeldoorn is a lecturer in International Relations at the Free University, Amsterdam.